Realisations
by Candiangirl534
Summary: Lucy realises her friends are actually human. One-shot.


First fanfic so please go easy on me and PLEASE REVIEW because I really want to get better.

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Lucy sat down on a nearby boulder with her head cupped in her delicate hands. Doing some deep breathing to calm herself, she started to replay the events that had taken place that day.

It had started with a mission. When Natsu walked the flyer over to the barstool Lucy had been sitting on you could practically see the excitement radiates off his face, which made he immediately suspicious.

"Hey Luce" he said like a kid giving a handmade present to his parents. "Look what I've got!"

He held up the paper object in his hands and Lucy quickly snatched it away to inspect whatever crazy thing he'd plan on making her do next. To her surprise, it seemed rather practical.

"You want to investigate a magic chef?" she asked as she looked for the catch. There had to be a catch considering they had just gone on a job and the only way to get Natsu to work was either money or excitement.

"Mm hmm!" he grinned and had a slightly dreamy tone in his voice. Then Happy drifted in with an extremely dreamy voice.

"He can make lots of different kinds of fish!" happy squeaked and was then absorbed in his many fish fantasies.

_So that was it, _Lucy grinned. Correction, Money, excitement and food were the only things that made them go on a job.

"Okay!" she agreed and then quickly grinned at Natsu's triumphant cry.

They had waited until the next day to leave. Of course at the mention of certain food items Erza and Gray had enthusiastically joined the investigation. Erza was of course bringing too much stuff and Natsu got sick on the train. The normalcy always eased Lucy. Her friends always had a calming effect on her and the fact that they were able to joke in even the most serious of situations made tough decisions all the more easier.

Lucy was pulled out of her thoughts of admiration for her friends when they finally reached the restaurant called _Sparky's_. 'Sparky' was the mage they were looking into. The customers had been complaining to Sparky's brother about strange noises coming from the restaurant at night. His brother who'd said that Sparky had had problems before with the wrong type of mages, posted the request with the hope of finding out who his brother was associating with and to get them to stay away from his brother. Not only that, but his brother was renown in the city for his culinary skills with anything meat, including fish, much to Happy's joy.

"Yay! Fish!" Happy yelled and quickly flew into the building. Natsu followed just as enthusiastic.

As the fairytail wizards sat themselves down to gorge on many delicacies a tall, burly looking man came over to their table. He sat a huge meat cleaver down in the center of the table, which made Lucy flinch. The mages recognized him as Sparky and were playing it cool, not wanting to rile up the guy before he could make them food.

"What are flies doing in my restaurant? Get out!" he bellowed before turning the table over, spilling water glasses and cutlery all over Erza. She got up and narrowed her eyes at the offending man. The rest of the mages were looking at the man with pitying stares. The man probably wouldn't be able to move tomorrow.

"Excuse me…" Erza started before jumping up and punching him in the gut "IS THAT HOW YOUR SUPPOSED TO TREAT A CUSTOMER!"

The fight lasted half a second and before long the man was on the floor with a large fist imprint on his cheek. Happy started to cry as he realised there would be no fish. Erza started a lecture on the man, who in Lucy's opinion had suffered enough. However Erza's lecture hadn't lasted long as twenty different mages jumped up and surrounded them.

Lucy sensed destruction and warned the other patrons to vacate the premises. As she forced out people who refused to abandon the spectacular food, Gray and Natsu had joined in on the stare down between the foreign wizards. The taunts going between the Natsu and the majority of the enemy were getting pettier and pettier, which meant fighting was going to break out soon.

Lucy barely had time to push the final customer through the door when the explosions started. The fighting had continued for barely five minutes when all the enemies were defeated and all the furniture was either cut up or burned to a crisp. The scene of her friends standing above their enemies was all too familiar and made her giggle.

Team Natsu was carrying all of the unconscious bodies through the entrance to be identified by the Fiore solders. When they had finally carried the last of their foes bodies out of the restaurant the dread of never eating the famous food had Natsu and happy sulking.

"Hey!" Happy yelled in delight thumping his cat palm with his fist "there's probably still food inside!"

"Your right!" Natsu agreed thumping his head. Why hadn't he thought of that?

Lucy looked at the dragon slayer and exceed duo go back inside the nearly collapsing building. _Idiots, _she thought and sighed. She turned back to the many bodies that lie spread out among the pavement, trying to recognize any famous wizards.

An ominous rumbling had her looking back towards the shop. Her eyes became wide as she saw the back supports give way and most of the restaurant give way, only leaving the false front and the sign which read "_Sparky". _She was only slightly surprised however, trusting her extremely lucky friend to be perfectly fine. She turned out to be correct when her teammate exited the building through the still intact front, with a sheepish grin on his face. Covered in dust, he was about to apologise for breaking something again when the weak frame he was standing in started to give way.

Lucy waited patiently for him to notice, and pull one of his ninja moves to dodge. He didn't notice. Instead he took a normal, heavy step forward and the whole thing collapsed on his head. Again Lucy waited expectantly for a recovery, one that would include him cursing the walls and smashing the already obliterated building.

Ten seconds. Fifteen. Twenty.

Nothing. No movement came from the mass of wood and metal.

"Natsu?" Lucy called hesitantly, hoping for a joke. Again, no response.

A bit panicky now Lucy ran over and swiftly pulled off the offending rubble, leaving her with an unconscious fire mage. His face was scratched up and there was a small pile of blood under his head. The grin he usually wore was totally gone and the only thing that was written on his face was pain.

"Gray! Erza!" Lucy screamed, scared to move Natsu. It was obviously his head wound that had knocked him into his forced slumber but she had no idea what other injuries he could have sustained from the falling building.

Gray and Erza had shown up quickly at the desperate tone in their friend's voice. The scene before them startled them. Lucy had moved to kneel down beside Natsu, brushing blood away from his face. Erza leaped into action, since she was the only one with any medical knowledge, and quickly assessed his injuries.

After what felt like the longest few minutes of Lucy's life, Natsu began to stir and Erza had questioned him like any good doctor. Natsu looked around dizzily for a second when he got up too fast, and clutched his throbbing head. He cringed as the devil Erza questioned him like an interrogation about how he felt. She determined it only to be a slight bump, but to watch him for signs of a concussion.

Throughout the process Lucy's body had gotten numb and when it came time to help Natsu up and find a place to stay for the night she politely excused herself for a few minutes. Everyone was puzzled as she did so, but finding the injured boy a bigger priority they let her go.

Lucy had felt herself sit down on the rock to ponder what had happened, and why it had shaken her so much.

Natsu, _her _Natsu had been hurt. It wasn't after some epic fight or some form of self-sacrifice. No, this had been purely an accident, something she never thought Natsu could ever take part in. Natsu was strong. He protected the guild, he protected their team, he protected _her. _Any accident Natsu took part in was laughed off. He would never get hurt. He's the one who everyone relied on, and he had fallen and been hurt by a simple building.

Even worse, Lucy had just left him there to get up himself. She'd fully expected to see the heartwarming grin after the building had collapsed.

Her hand started to quiver as realisation came to her. Natsu wasn't an exception to the dangers of a normal person. He wasn't above the laws of physics and his health didn't surpass that of another mortal. _He was human._

Silent tears started to form in her eyes as she remembered all the times she had relied on him shamelessly. He had always reassured her with that childish grin. In fact, she relied on everyone on her team, never once stopping to think they couldn't handle it. They always smiled when they protected her.

Quietly, she straightened her back with a new resolve to not immediately depend on her friends. If anything was to be learned from today's events it that her friends were breakable, and hurting her friends for her cowardice was not something she would let happen.

"Lucy?" a voice interrupted her thoughts. She jumped as Natsu came around to face her.

"What's wrong?" he continued with a look of panicky concern etched on his face.

"Nothing" she replied easily. Lucy was content in her resolve and the plan to never let her friends get hurt. Not if she could help it. "Nothing at all."

Lucy flashed him a grin just like the one he always used to reassure her, and she felt Natsu relax just like she always had.


End file.
